Sharewatch: Capital Rises Amid Rumours Of A Merger

Capital Radio saw the day’s largest increase yesterday, while many media stocks struggled to raise share prices, Capital pushed up by 0.63% to 478p. Rumours have circulated that a merger with rival GWR may be on the cards following a well received analyst presentation on Capital’s Century brands. GWR itself fell by 1.15% to 258p yesterday.

Elsewhere, Chrysalis Radio saw an increase, climbing by 0.46% to 217p. The company recently announced a marketing push to strengthen the position of its London-based speech station, LBC 97.3 FM following increased marketing by several rival broadcasters (see LBC Gears Up For Breakfast Battle With Ferrari Promotion).

Among those companies struggling yesterday was magazine giant Emap, dipping by 0.11% to 872˝p. Yesterday the company announced the first wave of interactive developments under its newly restructured interactive team. The move sees a redesign of the group’s popular New Woman website and an advertising deal with Littlewood’s LX Direct brand (see Emap Secures Sponsor For New Woman Relaunch).

The FTSE 100 closed down 0.1% yesterday at 4,524.5 after moving in and out of positive figures all day. Fickle investors switching between strong corporate earnings and fears of a slowdown in the Chinese economy also influenced the FTSE 250, which dipped by the 1%, resting at 6,250.2.

The closing prices of media company shares on Thursday were:

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